The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-08-31
VOL. Ill.
MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS.
THE CURIOUS EFFECTS THEY IIiVE
pom TIE MINDS OF SOME PERSONS.

The Groundlcss Fear Experienced by sic
Hearing oi Apparently IncNpii' able
HoiNrs--Tho Origin Of Midnight S"nnd.
Generally to be Traced to Atmosphc eric
Influences.
Tho effect Of certain sounds upon the
mind is often very curious. We do not
alludo to the ordinary phenomena of
speech, singing and music, where the
sound dproduciDg apparatus is tolcrabiy
familiar, and its distance from the hlarcr
estimated with a ucar approach to Uccu.
racy. The effect is only "mystcrious'
when there is any doubt as to where the
sound comes from, and how it was
originated; the imagination then begins,
and works itself mp to very singular hal
lucinations, Night, or darkness with
out night, has much to do with this mat
ter. Whom We cannot sec the sound
producing agent, conjecture is apt to run
wild. Ghost stories often depend on no
better foundation than this. For in
stance, certain sounds may frequently
be heard at night coming from thr air
above, but from an Invisible sourcc-a
KIND OF whlStling or prolonged civ the
producers OF which are known in CO, Iin
parts of England aS "whstlers. = inc
legends make ii out that these whisticrs
are ghosts, some evil spirits, some Won
dering Jews. But the truth is that ,bc
sounds proceed from birds, such rs wild
geese or plovers, which are in the habit
of flying i'll llocks by night, either for
the purpose Of reaching distant feeding
grounds or during their annual mora
tlons. The Cry which is usually uttered
by the "leadcr' during these noctrrnal
bird-iiights has, from Ignorance Of its
cause, been regarded as wcud and lpv;-
terious by sUpersttious folks, who ussC-
ciato ii with impending evil
Many II supposed "man in the house"
turns out to be Only the noise of somc
door, possibly affected by gra mnl
changes OF temperature forcing i,sclt
open. Many Il ghost story woul,, IT.
ceivc its solution by a little Nttun,iu. to
tho sounds resulting from the expansion
and contraction OF wood-work, such rs
panels, wanscOtinG and articles OF ll',ni-
turo Heard at night, when all is still
the sudden crGUling OF ldrntur, in
room IL apt u be somewhat Startling,
until one comes TO know that it is simply
duo to the "wcathcr."
Sound, being gcnc,aiy mora audible
at night than in the daytime, is often
exaggerated by those who overlook his
fact. Humboldt specially noted This
when listening TO the cptaracts Of The
Orinoco, and traced il 20 differences in
the humidity Of the air. \ httlo luvs-
terry is also due to the fact that We some
times know that an object visible to us
Is producing sound and yet we cannot
hear it, The chirp OF the sparrow is in
audible to some persons; others, Who
can hear this sound, cannot hear tho
squcal, Of bnt; and ull of us are at the
mercy of a kind OF tone deafness (aLaio.
gous III some degree to IN Duifuus
color blindness IN regard 10 soulG- Of
acute pitch. y singular ease OF vi ihic
but maud II" drumming occurred during
the AmC c. War of lndcpeudcncc.
English III. Amcrican troops we're drawn
rp on opposite sides of the nyrr; The
outposts We're mutually visible and the
English could see an American drummer
beating his tattoo, although no sound
could be heard. This il attributed 10 Il
kind of tone opacity which affected the
air over the river in particular sta,c OF
temperature and humidity.
There is, TO most Of us, much mvS,cry
in sounds when louder than We expected
to find them. \ well at CaIisbruokc
Castle, Isle of Wight, has water ut the
bottom, and whcI! SO small an object ns
pin is dropped into the water, the
sound can be heard above, although the
well is more than two hundred feet duCU
At st. Adams Cathedral, it used to be
said, the tick of watch could bc heard
from end to end OF that very long build
ng. Whether the recent rCstorations
nave mtcffercd with this phenomenon,
VIC do not know. 1t is wcll-knOwn
fact that sounds can he heard over water
mt Il greater distance than over land.
DR.. uatton heard Il person reading ut n
distance OF one hundred and forty feet
on the Thames, whereas he could only
hear him seventy feet away when on
the shore. Sound Gun be heard over
ice, also, more easily than over land.
When Lieutenant Foster was wintoYIng
in the arctic regions, lie found ne could
converse with man mile and quar-
ter distant, both being on the ice. The
human voice, it is asserted, has been
heard ten miles of 10y persons ut Gibral.
tar over the water OF the strait, We pre-.
sumo. The whispering gallery at st.
Paul's is always n mystery to visitors; a
whisper often becomes audible at the
opposite side of the gallery, but not at
intermediate positions. The late Charles
Wheatstone once made curious obscrva
ton on sound at the Colosseum in the
Regents Park, recently pulled down.
Placing himself close to the upper part
OF the interior wdlI-a circle one hun
dred and thirty feet i'll diameter he
found that spoken word was repeated
many times; that an exclamation mp
pearcd like pea! II laughter, and that
the tearing Of piece of paper was like
the pattering OF hail. In the Cathedral
of Girgenti, Sicily, whisper can be
heard the whole lengtl. ii tho building
il the whisperer places himself i'll the
focus of the semi circular apso at one
end. A story is told that long ago q
confessions box was inadvertently placed
Just at the spot near the entrance to the
chnrnb nn1 that tbp authorities first hc.